Swamp Girl

Cool photo, @Dan N.

How old are you, Dwight? I too struggled with consecutive fishing days last year, but I had undiagnosed anemia. I'm hoping I'll fare better in 2024.

Sweet! Enjoy the ride. It's wonderful.

Ha! The paddling and dragging the canoe across fields and through the woods is actually much more demanding. I wrote "drag" because I bought a pair of wheels last year, so I only carry it the short distances nowadays.

Me too. Mine feel like they might buckle one day. Not yet, but one day.

Thanks for ^this.^ It's a great reminder. I count my water and try to reach a daily minimum.

@GreenPig: Remember those training montages in the "Rocky" movies? Your workout sounds like one of Rocky's workouts.

So true! I think about @king fisher, who fishes upland reservoirs that have the equivalent of Pebble Beach's water and sand traps in the form of barbed wire and nets beneath the surface. And then there's @Zcoker, pushing into the great swamp, swarming with gators and pythons, and catching giant bass. And then there's @WRB, who fished Castaic and Casitas at their carnival-like peaks...and thrived. There's @A-Jay up north, catching and catching and catching small jaws with big jaws, bass so big I'd be thrilled to catch one. And @Pat Brown, who fishes with his kid, but still catches DDs. And guys like @The Bassman, @Team9nine, and @Woody B, they just keep catching and catching and catching too. @Dwight Hottle, of course, catches both giant largies and giant smallies. And @TnRiver46, who's happy catching everything, has landed a dozen or so 20"-plus smallies this past fall. Then there are the FFS guys who read those glowing screens like a witch would read bones and both bits of magic are beyond me. And the wide list goes on and on and on. You and I are a lot alike, Alex, in that our boats are pretty simple and small. And I see you alone on the water, just like I am, for you're fishing in the winter and I'm fishing in the rain, fog, and dark. So, when I watch your videos and see your old boat and hear how happy you are to touch these beautiful bass and release them, I think, "Brother." Tomorrow, I'll photograph and post some of my old magazine covers. I have some more than a hundred years old, but my favorites range from the thirties to the fifties.

I'm very expensive. Lots of zeroes! Here is my seven digits per hour rate: $0.000000

Tom, I read ^this.^ And then I think about ^this.^ And I remember the story you told about you think you had the world record bass hooked, which you would know. So, when you talk about the trials of being a world-class angler, you know.

Alex, buy a lottery ticket tomorrow. And buy one for me too. Please. Regarding the buck, with that pose, I'd call him a stag. And I want to paint him. Say, I'm thinking of weighing most of my bigger bass in 2024. I'd like to know what my top five per trip are.

I bet.

Me too! Counts double. He's a high achiever. I wonder if he's free to portage my canoe at 3:30 a.m.

Do you do anything to stay fish-fighting fit? Even if you fish from a Ranger, which is about as stable as an aircraft carrier, you still have to load and unload it. If you're fishing from a small boat like me, you have to paddle it for miles, step onto slippery rocks to enter it, etc. So, I focus on my core, doing crunches and planks, and also on agility, doing various stretches. I also walk a couple miles most days. I also make a point of climbing stairs and even if I'm going shopping, I take the parking spot farthest from the door. How about you? Do you coast because you're young? Or do you work at extending your fishing years?

Okay, I have to stop looking at Alex's fat bass. Its extraordinary shape has me mesmerized. I still think a DD bass or near a DD is coming for Alex because he's in a groove. Dialed in. Locked in.

ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! ALEX! You are dialed in, my friend. A 23.5 lb. bag is so impressive. I'm as happy as if I caught those beshemoths.

Is @Pat Brown making us more clever or more diabolical?

Whew, @Bankbeater!

I think I could do this if it weren't for Keitechs because I might catch half a dozen bass on one, but I sometimes catch just one on one. I'll think I've got plenty and then I look and I'm down to a dozen.

How come everyone's last bass was big except for mine?

I feel the same way, but I expect some are astonished that I've never caught an LMB with a jig. I used to catch white bass two at a time on hair jigs joined by a three-way swivel on the Mississippi and Wolf River, and I've jigged up hundreds (thousands?) of walleyes, but no LMBs yet.

Make that four big, last bass. Here's my last 2023 bass from way back in October.

Three big, last bass!

Bob is the best.